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As a child of Milwaukee and a former MPS student, I see my reflection in these results.
As a Black father, I see my two daughters’ faces – one of whom is herself in this 4th grade cohort – in these numbers.
The recent release of dismal reading and math results on NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, are far more than statistics. They reflect, in the words of Langston Hughes, a “dream deferred” for tens of thousands of students across Milwaukee – students like my girls and myself.
When will it be enough?
Even amidst national results characterized as alarming, Milwaukee’s performance managed to distinguish itself – by hitting rock bottom.
The reality is stark and shameful: nine out of ten Black fourth-graders in MPS cannot identify even and odd numbers, or use tally marks to count to 30.
When will it be enough?
Wisconsin earned national attention – and disgrace. Statewide results stagnated, ranking 22nd when adjusted for demographics. Our students’ futures are drying up, like a “raisin in the sun.”
We continue to languish at the bottom of national rankings for Black-White performance gaps. Just 5% of Wisconsin’s Black students were proficient in 4th-grade reading. We’ve chosen collective amnesia over action, comfortable ignorance over uncomfortable change. And nothing–absolutely nothing–has improved.
When will it be enough?
The excuses from our state’s top education leaders ring increasingly hollow. State Superintendent Jill Underly and DPI leadership push harmful changes and lowered expectations for students, while gaslighting the public about their impact and telling parents to “get their hands dirty” instead.
The misleading rhetoric abounds: it’s “just one test on one day”; expecting proficiency on NAEP is “above students’ abilities”; critics of their decisions, including Governor Evers, legislative leaders, and educators and observers across the ideological spectrum, are all “getting it wrong” and are guilty of “politicizing test scores.”
When will it be enough?
Milwaukee Public Schools careens from crisis to crisis, treating academic achievement as an afterthought, and legal obligations and deadlines as mere suggestions. DPI leadership turns a blind eye – when it’s not aiding and abetting MPS’ abdication of its responsibilities.
As a city, we’ve become dangerously numb to this dysfunction, shrugging off operational chaos and academic collapse, allowing them to “fester like a sore,” as if they’re simply facts of life in Milwaukee.
Of 25 major urban districts assessed on NAEP, MPS ranked in the bottom three across all tested grades and subjects. MPS’ Black students performed at the absolute lowest level on all four tests – yet again.
When will it be enough?
MPS leadership’s perpetual requests for more funding collide with reality: The district is now among the top 25 in per-pupil funding – 7th in state support.
Milwaukee’s hardworking residents have provided MPS with an additional $330 million per year through two permanent tax increases. Despite losing one-third of its enrollment, MPS’ total annual budget now exceeds $1.5 BILLION – larger than any other single unit of local government in the city, region, or state.
This unprecedented investment hasn’t just failed to improve outcomes – students in MPS are falling even further behind.
When will it be enough?
Milwaukee’s educational crisis extends beyond MPS, threading across sectors and geographies, sagging our city’s vitality “like a heavy load.” But acknowledging the scope of the challenge cannot become another excuse for inaction, another reason for finger-pointing and blame.
We must stop collectively admiring – and running from – the problem. “Milwaukee nice” deflection and status quo preservation has gotten us nowhere. We cannot continue to care more about being polite than we care about doing right by our city’s students.
When will it be enough?
City leaders – beginning with the Mayor – have made strong statements about the state of education. But after more than a year, they remain just words. Milwaukee’s students need solutions, not just sympathetic soundbites – and they need them now.
We need a clear vision and a real plan for addressing the worst-in-the-nation performance of our city’s schools. The time is now for bold leadership, uncompromising vision and collective will to make difficult but necessary changes. Nothing less than Milwaukee’s very future is at stake.
As I look at my daughters, as I look at these numbers, I feel both heartbreak and fury. These statistics aren’t abstract – they’re our children, our responsibility, our future.
When will THEY be enough?
Born and raised in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood and an alum of Milwaukee’s public and private schools, Colleston Morgan Jr was appointed as executive director of City Forward Collective in 2023. Previously, he served as the organization’s vice president, strategy & policy. In his career, Colleston has served as a high school social studies teacher and district administrator in New Orleans as well as an executive with Teach for America. Colleston earned an A.B. in Government from Harvard University and a master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He is the proud father of two school-aged daughters.
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